All is nearly LOST!

Jane Chastain is a Southern California-based broadcaster, author and political commentator. Despite her present emphasis on politics, Jane always will be remembered as the nation's first female TV sportscaster, spending 17 years on the sports beat. Jane blogs at JaneChastain.com. She is a pilot who lives on a private runway.

What could be wrong with a treaty governing the oceans championed by President George W. Bush, the secretary of the Navy and the overwhelming majority of the members of both political parties who make up the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?

Everything!

Just as the president was leading us down the wrong path on immigration, he is leading us down the wrong path by asking the Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty, or LOST).

LOST was signed by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, but despised by Ronald Reagan. That, alone, should tell you something!

However, unless there is a tidal wave of opposition from “We the People” – and soon – LOST will be brought up for a final vote in the Foreign Relations Committee next week and could go directly to the floor for ratification.

The last time it came up in the Senate was in 2004, when Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was majority leader. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., then chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, carried the water for President Bush and gave the treaty a positive recommendation. However, Frist understood the dangers of the LOST as did Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., then chairman of the Committee on the Environment and Public Works. It died after his committee had a full opportunity to expose its weaknesses.

Today is a new day! The Democrat Party wants a smaller military (a token armed force would be just fine). It wrongly sees the United Nations as our great father-protector, an international enforcer, a keeper of world peace. Therefore, it rarely sees an opportunity to transfer power or money to this giant, corrupt international bureaucracy.

When the Democrats regained control of Congress, Bush recognized the opportunity to “work with his colleagues across the aisle” to get the LOST ratified. He is catering to his oil buddies that wrongly look to the U.N. to protect their undersea explorations. Active-duty military has no choice but to follow the president’s lead, but ask someone like retired Adm. James Lyons, the former commander of the Pacific Fleet, and you will get a straight story.

Unlike the immigration bill, the American people know very little about the LOST, and the mainstream media – which favor a strong U.N. – isn’t about to clue us in. If a vote were held tomorrow, my head count shows that no more than 10 senators will oppose it.

Groups like the Center for Security Policy, Eagle Forum, Free Congress Foundation, America’s Survival, American Conservative Union, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, American Council for Immigration Reform, Concerned Women for America and the National Center for Public Policy Research have been working overtime to raise awareness, but YOU aren’t paying attention!

Senators are about to vote without the benefit of hearings before the Committee on the Environment and Public Works under Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. – despite the efforts of now-Ranking Member Inhofe – or the Senate Armed Services Committee under Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich. This is shameful!

In fact, it is safe to say most members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are completely ignorant of the dangers the LOST poses to the security of our country. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Sea Power, is a newbie and wasn’t around the last time the LOST came up.

A few days ago, Inhofe, who is also a member of the Armed Services Committee and is one of the chief defenders of a strong military, laid out one of his concerns for me. It is this: If intelligence discovers that a ship loaded with terrorists and weapons of mass destruction is headed our way, under the terms of this treaty, all we can do is watch and wait for disaster to strike.

Under the LOST, there are four reasons – and only four reasons – our country would be allowed to stop and search this ship: human trafficking, drug trafficking, piracy and unauthorized broadcasting. That alone should be reason enough to oppose this treaty!

What is the big hurry to pass this treaty? My mother used to tell me, “Things that seem urgent are rarely important, and things that are important are rarely urgent.”

Make no mistake, this is hugely important to the U.N. Not only will it give the U.N. absolute control of seven-tenths of the earth’s surface, it will give the global body something it has wanted for a long time – the power to tax through fees and royalties. This will make the U.N. truly independent!